I would estimate that the Browns have had a Super Bowl-caliber team—that is, an offense or defense capable of winning the Super Bowl—three or four times in the roughly fifty years that I have been a fan. Perhaps. I’m being kind here because the Browns haven’t had a lot of outstanding units.
The top Browns units throughout the previous 50 years, in my opinion, are as follows:
The Brian Sipe offense from 1980. Sincerely speaking, the offensive line of the Kardiac Kids—which included Sipe, Ozzie Newsome, Reggie Rucker, Mike Pruitt, Dave Logan, and others—was probably not good enough for the Super Bowl, but they had a great flair for the big play and various last-minute wizardry. That is, until our hearts were broken by Red Right 88.
The Browns balance for 1986–1987. Those two Browns teams were in the top five on both sides of the ball despite without a dynamic offense or strong defense.
That balance might have, and should have, been sufficient to lead Cleveland to a Super Bowl because the AFC was so cruel back then. Unfortunately, because to the Fumble and the Drive, it wasn’t.
The Browns defense of 1994. Together, head coach Bill Belichick and defensive coordinator Nick Saban led the team to the fewest points allowed in professional football.
Cleveland’s defense was sufficient to get them to the Super Bowl. Sadly, the offense under Vinny Testaverde was far from sufficient, and the Browns lost badly to Pittsburgh in a division playoff game.
That’s probably as far as I can go. The Browns have only finished in the top 10 in scoring offense (2008, when they ended eighth) and defense (2002, when they were 10th, 2011, when they finished fifth, and 2015, when they finished ninth) since moving back to Cleveland in 2000. To put it mildly, none of those were dominant units.
